[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} PRESS: Serbs raise spectre of renewed Kosovo war (Times, NOVEMBER 23 2000)

[Wolfgang Plarre]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,40295,00.html

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 23 2000 

Serbs raise spectre of renewed Kosovo war 

BY RICHARD BEESTON, DIPLOMATIC EDITOR 

BELGRADE gave warning yesterday that it could be on the verge of a
"large-scale war" with Kosovo, after suspected ethnic Albanian rebels
carried out a two-pronged attack on Serb targets, leaving half a dozen
people dead. 
     In the most serious outbreak of fighting since moderates replaced
the Milosevic regime in September, hundreds of ethnic Albanian
separatist guerrillas reportedly crossed the administrative border from
Kosovo and raided police units. 
     Hours later in Pristina, capital of the province, a building used
by the Yugoslav representative was ripped apart by a huge bomb explosion
early in the morning. Nato's Kfor peacekeeping force said that one man
had been killed in the attack and two injured. Lieutenant General Carlo
Cabigiosu, the Kfor commander, said that more Nato troops would put on
street patrol to deter further actions. 
     Bernard Kouchner, the United Nations chief administrator in Kosovo,
said that the bombing had been well-prepared and was aimed at blocking
attempts at Serb-Albanian reconciliation. "The extremists are now ready
to step up their targeting of the Serb community," M Kouchner said. 
     In the earlier incident, four Serb policemen were reportedly killed
at the border village of Konculj, in the Presevo Valley, in a raid by
Albanian fighters that began on Tuesday and continued overnight. Zoran
Djindjic, a moderate in the newly elected Government of President
Kostunica, said that the guerrillas had surrounded scores of policemen.
He said the situation was so serious that the special police - earlier
accused of war crimes in Kosovo - should be brought back to help restore
security. 
     "Those are big clashes," said Mr Djindjic, claiming that the
Albanians were armed with mortars and other heavy weapons. "This could
lead to a large-scale war . . . We are warning the international
community that if it tolerates this, there could be another flashpoint
in the Balkans." He said that the rebels were operating in the
three-mile demilitarised zone along the administrative border, from
which Serb troops are barred. 
     Nato acknowledged that it was trying to seal the rugged border,
which runs along the American eastern sector of Kosovo. However, it
insisted that the actions were taking place outside its area of
operations. 
     The group responsible for the raid is probably the Liberation Army
of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedjam, a splinter group which surfaced
after the Kosovo Liberation Army was disbanded last year. 
     There have been fears of an upsurge in Albanian attacks ever since
Mr Kostunica ousted Slobodan Milosevic during presidential elections.
The West has welcomed Mr Kostunica, provided money for Serbia and
reopened diplomatic relations with Belgrade. Kosovo Albanians fear that
the rapprochement makes their chances of winning independence ever more
remote. 
     The former KLA leaders, who have stockpiled weapons despite Kfor's
attempts to disarm them, suffered a second setback last month when the
moderate Albanian nationalist Ibrahim Rugova won municipal elections in
Kosovo. The danger is not only that the region could be plunged back
into war, but that this time Kfor peacekeeping troops could be caught in
the middle.

Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd


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